I am sure my story is gonna be a lesson for all those whom loves prank calls. This absolutely horrifying experience took place when I was 16. My best friend Sam called me on a Sunday evening and told me that his parents were going to visit his granny who lived near the countryside and would be gone for a couple of days and that only he and his elder brother who was 19, would be at home. So we planned a sleepover at his place.
I rode my bike and got there by 7. His brother was out with his friends and we decided to play games on Xbox and ordered pizza. We carelessly played, laughed and ate, spilling drinks, bits of food all over the table and floor and then at about 10, we went upstairs to watch a movie but soon got bored and so we decided to make prank calls here and there and have fun trolling people. So Sam called first, dialing random unknown numbers, and had no luck as no one picked up the call.
After a few failed attempts, finally someone answered the call. He had a grave, heavy voice and instead of the usual “hello”, he answered saying “hm?”. Hearing this, Sam burst into laughter and so did I. I couldn’t keep a straight face I dialed this call and so I forced myself into being serious, the man on the other end was silent all this time. I made a straight face and went on, saying something stupid like “Sir do you know how many chickens it would take to kill a lion?”. The man on the other end said, “what’s your name kid?” I said “It’s Bob” he said, “You sure it’s not Sam??”. This shocked us. I instantly looked at Sam and he was completely blank.
We were totally not expecting this and didn’t know what to say so I hung up the call. I admit we were a bit too scared to continue with the prank calls so we sat quietly and then I asked Sam how could he know your name? He said he had no idea and so we googled it. There came a number of options out of which one was of caller id. We asked it on Quora and the answers we got said “Caller ID” so we checked it and it showed his dad’s name. And all the rest options didn’t make sense because in no way he could get it so quickly.
We were upset and kind of frightened and so we thought of calling his dad but we couldn’t because it would get Sam into trouble as he wasn’t supposed have any friends over this late at night. So we called his brother. We tried several times but he didn’t pick up the call. So we went back to watching the movie but it was very difficult for us to focus on it and enjoy it.
We were just blankly watching it while lying on the couch when we heard that someone was at the front door. We were relieved that Sam’s brother is finally home. Sam ran to see who it was through the window and so he lifted the curtains to see a tall, lean figure standing and trying to open the door by the knob but couldn’t because it was locked. It wasn’t Sam’s brother, it was someone else. On seeing him we instantly got chills and ran to hide in the bedroom upstairs.
We hid behind the door and Sam remembered that the back door was unlocked. We got confused to whether or not we should run and lock it but it was too late as we heard it open and someone walked in. We were dying of terror, everything was so quiet and all we could hear was the footsteps. Slow and steady footsteps. Someone was walking around the house and soon started climbing the stairs.
Our hearts were racing and we were trembling with fear. We felt as if this was the end of us. The man climbed up and after a few seconds of standing still (as no sound could be heard) he went back downstairs, the sound of the steps grew fainter and fainter and then we heard the door close.
We started crying. It was too much for us to handle and we called the police.
They came here and search the areas nearby but couldn’t find anyone. Sam’s brother returned home and we told him the terrifying incident. All three of us then locked the house and slept at my house as no one was willing to sleep at Sam’s.
Sam called his parents as well and they got so worried that they returned back home early morning.
Till a long time after this horrid incident, I used to get nightmares of it and I wasn’t able to stay alone for a long time. Now 7 years have passed but I know if I think about it too deeply I still might get fearful.
Fortunately, none of these ever repeated and so as time passed, we started feeling safe and fine. I pray that none of us has to experience such a terrible incident and that everyone stays safe at all places, at all times.
